The 49 Reasons That The 49ers Made Colin Kaepernick So Damn Rich

Yes, that’s a whole lot of money the 49ers are paying Colin Kaepernick.

Why, just think. If he keeps making roughly $20 million per year for the next 100 years, he’ll have enough money to buy the Los Angeles Clippers.

Of course, reports are that Kaepernick won’t be quite that rich. The 49ers quarterback has settled for merely a six-year deal worth up to $126 million.

Does he deserve it? Kaepernick himself will answer that over the next few seasons with his performance.

However, I can tell you the 49 reasons that the 49ers gave the deal to him.

(Hint: My basic opinion about the deal and why I can’t argue with it is folded into reason No. 38)

Let’s go:

1. Trust me. Unless Kaepernick does an absolute faceplant, this deal is going to look like a bargain five years from now as the NFL cash machine keeps finding new ways to make more dough. It’s the most popular sports league in North America as well as the most popular television show in America (the Sunday Night Football games outrate “American Idol” and “NCIS” and everything else). That means ticket prices and advertising rates will keep going up, which will drive up the salary cap. We’ll easily see a $30 million per year quarterback by 2020, when Kaepernick’s deal expires.

2. Only $61 million of the contract is guaranteed, from reports. So in that sense, you could call it “just” a $10 million-per-year deal.

3. Have you noticed that big new stadium rising in Santa Clara?

4. Have you checked out the ticket prices for that new stadium, which is sold out for the season?

5. And we still don’t even know how ridiculous the beer prices will be. But it will certainly help pay for Kaepernick’s contract as well as the plumbing bills. (Insert your own joke here about “new revenue streams.”)

6. So, yes, the 49ers can afford to pay out the millions for Kaepernick in his new deal.

7. This is the big number, though, because this is Kaepernick’s jersey number. And the man and talent inside that jersey is why the 49ers have taken this big salary leap.

8. That talent is considerable. In terms of raw material, Kaepernick has the physical quarterbacking tools that roughly 99.9% of the general population (and probably 85% of the general NFL quarterbacking population) do not possess.

9. How many other NFL quarterbacks, before starting the equivalent of two full seasons worth of games, have earned four playoff victories while leading teams to two conference title contests and one Super Bowl? Waiting. Still waiting.

10. Yes, Kaepernick lost one of those conference championship games and that Super Bowl, both times failing to score a potential winning touchdown while in the red zone. But the play-calling was at fault in the Super Bowl final sequence. And I think Kaepernick is using the just-underthrown pass against Seattle as motivation for the future, which is a good thing.

11. Sounds like it, anyway. Here’s what Kaepernick said during his press session following the contract signing: “I’m going to work to make sure I’m worth every penny of this, to help this team win as many games as possible. That’s something I feel that I can do.”

12. I’ve always broken down NFL employees into two categories: Guys who want to be NFL players and guys who really want to play in the NFL. Kaepernick is definitely the latter. Makes a difference. He works as hard as anyone on the team.

13. I still think the 49ers are underutilizing Kaepernick’s legs. His 181 rushing yards against Green Bay in the playoff game following the 2012 season hint at what’s possible.

14. So does this: His 507 rushing yards in the postseason already ranks second among all quarterbacks in NFL postseason history, trailing only Steve Young (594 yards).

15. I know the 49ers don’t want to risk injury to Kaepernick and tend to be hesitant in calling his number, but I think he’s gained the smarts to take care of himself and get down if he takes off and finds trouble. And I think the 49ers’ staff recognizes that. You’ll see a lot more of his motor-downfield skills in the next few regular seasons.

16. Jim Harbaugh, the 49ers head coach, is a former NFL quarterback. So you know he had to be consulted about Kaepernick’s potential before the front office agreed to the deal. Harbaugh has not been wrong about a 49er quarterbacking personnel decision yet.

17. This is the number of games Kaepernick started last season. Didn’t miss one, even though we know he was playing with an injured foot through part of it.

18. The options that the 49ers have behind Kaepernick at quarterback are a big dropoff.

19. His new deal is roughly the equivalent of Joe Flacco’s deal in Baltimore. He signed a contract for six years and $120.6 million after winning the Super Bowl. Kaepernick was one play away from winning that game. Just one play. Why shouldn’t he earn almost as much?

20. Before deciding to do the deal, the 49ers must have determined that getting the thing done now would be better than having it drag on during summer training camp. It allows Kaepernick to concentrate solely on football, which is a good thing and worth something.

21. Kaepernick’s number of passing touchdowns last season. He’s just scratching the surface.

22. The worries about Kaepernick’s contract busting up the 49ers’ salary cap situation and forcing them to ditch other players are alarmist, as I will explain in the ensuing reasons:

23. We may not know the exact structure of Kaepernick’s new deal but it sounds as if it’s built to accomodate what the 49ers want to do with the players they really need to sign.

24. How do we know this? Kaepernick said during his press session: “Part of the way the contract is written was so they would be able to sign other players.”

25. Also, new 49ers president/money manager Paraag Marathe is a smart guy with an MBA from Stanford. You can bet before the deal’s architecture was complete, Marathe figured out how the budget would still work to give other 49ers the money they deserve.

26. This is Kaepernick’s age. He is still so, so young. His upside remains enormous.

27. The 49ers must have done their own investigation of that whole strange Miami condo/hotel incident and determined that Kaepernick is not going to be charged with anything.

28. I was just on a Seattle radio sportstalk show and the host affirmed that Seahawks fans hate Kaepernick. That’s worth at least a few bucks right there.

29. When I run the highlight reel of Kaepernick plays in my mind, I can never get the ones out of my mind where he is sprinting toward the sideline but still somehow gathers enough arm strength to throw a laser shot at Michael Crabtree’s hands maybe 25 yards downfield. I don’t think I ever saw previous 49er starter Alex Smith do that as well on a consistent basis. Or maybe at all.

30. Kaepernick showed a flash of why he’s considered a good teammate during his Wednesday answers at the podium, making sure that without prompting he credited Smith for his mentoring skills during Kaep’s rookie season and through the awkward 2012 situation where Harbaugh decided that Smith would suddenly become a second-stringer.

31. The 49ers now own all reproductive and merchandising rights to Kaepernick’s arm tattooo images. (Just kidding. I think.)

32. Kaepernick owns a pet turtle. I think anyone who has a pet turtle must not be a bad guy and have perspective.

33. It also shows you that Kaepernick is not the type who will go out and blow his money on, say, a pet tiger the way Mike Tyson did. Another quote from Wednesday’s press session by the new multi-multi-millionaire: “The most expensive things I own are my TV, my bed and my couch. We’re going to keep it that way for a while.”

34. Kaepernick’s contract is not really that much heftier and in the same general range as guys like Matt Ryan, Jay Cutler and Tony Romo.

37. Sure, it’s a little weird to realize that Kaepernick will now be making more money than Peyton Manning. But you have to say, in their most recent Super Bowl appearances, Kaepernick was better than Manning.

38. Quarterback is the most important position on the field. (You were waiting for that cliche, weren’t you?)

39. Right now, I rank Kaepernick as falling somewhere between the seventh and 12th best quarterback in the league. So if this contract puts him in the top 10 quarterbacks salary-wise, I’m cool with that.

40. From his body language and interview sessions lately, I do think Kaepernick is maturing.

41. Yes, I say this in spite of that bad decision to put himself in that Miami room with some apparent weirdness. I think it might have helped along the maturation process. He learned a lesson.

42. Having a quarterback such as Kaepernick locked up for six years will continue to make it easier for the 49ers to recruit free agent wide receivers such as Anquan Boldin.

43. Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, due his first contract extension next season, must now be so jealous of Kaepernick. That’s good, right?

44. Hey, the guy is bionic. I’m just going by what his head coach says.

45. Since Kaepernick took over as the 49ers’ starter halfway through the 2012 season, he is the third-highest-rated quarterback in the NFL with a total quarterback rating of 69.6 on the 0-100 scale. That trails only Manning (83.3) and Aaron Rodgers (71.3).

46. I hate stats generally, but that last one really does put it into perspective how far Kaepernick has come in such a short time.

47. All those seasons when the 49ers had to rely on their defense to win games are now way in the past — and will be for the next six seasons.

48. When people file into the new 49er stadium, I’d bet you could take a poll and ask them which single player they are most paying to see and Kaepernick would win the poll. When you’re trying to sell season tickets long term, you don’t want to lose your top gate attraction in the second year the new stadium is open.

49. Bottom line: Kaepernick will make 49er games a helluva lot more fun to watch, in Santa Clara and at home, plus give the 49ers a better chance to win every one of them. Sometimes, the best reasons are the simple ones.

Although I hate to see any player paid that much, I would much rather have Kaepernick at the big bucks than Flacco, Romo, Cutler, etc, etc. I just hope the 9ers can afford to field a championship caliber team at the other positions with this much money tied up in the QB. In defense of the big bucks – I think Kaep’s talent has been under utilized up to this point because Harbaugh has been intent on winning with as conservative a game plan as possible. The problem is it hasn’t taken the 9ers to the promised land yet, and with the team in Seattle doing their thing it is even less likely that conservatism will get the 9ers a Super Bowl win in the future. The playoff game against the Hawks was the template for how to win it all. The 9ers finally got serious about opening up the offense with more receivers in the play and Kaep was allowed to use his legs. Slightly better execution would have won the game. If you commit to the more wide open style throughout the year I think the execution in the playoffs will improve. You aren’t going to beat the Seahawks in the big games without spreading their defensive backfield out and without a mobile QB who is a threat to rip off big gains on the ground and throw deep while scrambling. I can’t think of a better QB in the NFL to fit that bill than Kaep. So maybe he is worth the money?